MLB.com beat writer Brian McTaggart blogs about all things Astros.

Do you have pennant fever?

The last week has seen the Astros play some incredible baseball, capped with the sweep of the first-place Cardinals. They split a series in L.A. with the Dodgers, who have the best record in baseball, and likely should have won three of four games. They swept a Cardinals team that manhandled them earlier in the year.

Since May 30, they Astros are 30-17 and they have gone 11-4 since getting shut out in back-to-back games in San Francisco July 3-4. What’s changed? The starting pitching, led by Wandy Rodriguez and Roy Oswalt, has been terrific, and they are finally getting some clutch hits.

Before you get too excited, just remember that are more than two months remaining and a long way to go. I’m not ready to say quite yet the Astros will be contenders into September. They open a huge road trip Monday with four games in Chicago and then three more in St. Louis. If they come out of that trip still within striking distance of first place, we might have ourselves a pennant race.

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8 Comments

Fearless second-half prediction: The rigors of the schedule and an aging roster will catch up with the Astros, who will fall out of contention heading into the final month.

Yes, your prediction will come back to haunt you over and over in the coming months. How about this for a fearless prediction: Due to injuries to some key players in our lineup and pitching staff, additions made by Ed Wade and some Young Guns in OUR farm system step up and make contributions that rival the Astros playoff run of ’05!

Your prediction wasn’t fearless, you just dipped your laddle in the 6 month old koolaid all the sports reporters have been drinking this year.

I have to say, I appreciate honest reporting and I like how our guys don’t always just jump on and say”hey, I know we are 10 games back with 11 to go, but I see the WS in our future…” However, I am tired of the negative garbage. How about writing an article talking about how good we are doing and how at the end of May we were 9 games out…but now we are in the hunt for 1st place. You have probably one of the best jobs in the world. You get to write about baseball! You go to every game, meet All-Star players, and the best you can say about our team is if after 7 games we are still close,”we might be in a pennant race.” Come on man. GO ASTROS!

Well Brian….there you have it, brother! A couple of weeks ago, as I am sure that you remember, I had posted a response to your “September melt-down” article due to the age of our players! I know that you are supposed to write what you think and not be a writer for the Astros! But I just want you to read the above posts and you’ll see that I am not the only one who was in shock about what you wrote! Take care of yourself, Brian, and cheers….oh wise one!!!! AD1!

I like your blog – I think the NL Central is going to be the best of the division races this year, with so many teams within grasp of each other, I sure hope the Astros can pull off another second half run like they always. I’m a die hard Angel fan – I know Erstad isn’t what he once was, but he is a solid guy to have. Check out my blog if you can and let me know what you think. Thank you.http://mattwestmoreland.mlblogs.com/

Sure, I’m on the bandwagon, why not? Hey, I’m old enough and been a fan enough of the Stros long enough that I know where the bandwagon might be heading…it’s either on the road to the promised land, or it’s going to land in the ditch somewhere. Heh heh

I’ve been through heartaches galore and they’re never easy, but as a Houston sports fan for many years, I’ve got many a scar to prove it. But there’s been some great moments too, and ONE day the Stros will win the WS and we’ll know how awesome it is to be the champs and have the ticket tape parade and all that….and oh yes, I will be dancing in the streets! So, I can’t not hop on the bandwagon! It might go in the ditch, but then it might not!

Lefty….in response to your post….thats a tough call! Ed Wade has gone on record to say that the Astros are gonna stand pat with who we have! Now that the Cardinals have aquired the services of Julio Lugo, Mark DeRosa and now Matt Holliday, we would be fools not to make a trade for another quality arm! As much as I hate to admit it, the Cardinals are gonna be very tough to beat now! With their recent additions, Pujols now has coverage in the line-up which means teams will now have to pitch to him more because Holliday is right behind him followed by Ludwig! Cardinal fans have to be excited about that….now Ed Wade needs to excite the Astros fans by signing another quality arm to go along with our starting 5! We have two chances at the post season, and I am in no way conceding our divisional chances, but there is also the wild-card to win, as well!

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